TNT talent headed for NCAA tournament work

Basketball fans everywhere got some great news Thursday. SI.com reports today that Turner Network’s main crew of Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith, along with the game broadcasting crew of Marv Albert and Kerr, will work the tournament as part of deal where Turner and CBS share NCAA coverage.

We can only hope that the deal is heavily tilted towards the Turner talent. Because nothing would delight me more than seeing Jim Nantz’s role shrink with Albert and Kerr — arguably the best announcing crew in all of basketball — working the meaningful games.

And with the easy rapport and banter that Barkley, Smith and Johnson share, it will be easy to imagine that Greg Gumbel and Seth Davis at the NCAA Tournament studio show will appear as dated in their broadcasts as a Larry Bird jumper.

It will be interesting to see how this deal comes together. Because the Turner people are going to come off much better in any comparison to their college counterparts.

And the thought of Barkley and Smith skewering everything the NCAA finds so sacrosanct about college sports will make for some great television.